9:2-8, 9-13, 14-29, 30-32
Part 1, Section 1, Chapter 3, Article 1, SubSection 2, Heading 2 151 For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his "beloved Son", in whom the Father is "well pleased"; God tells us to listen to him. 18 The Lord himself said to his disciples: "Believe in God, believe also in me." 19 We can believe in Jesus Christ because he is himself God, the Word made flesh: "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known." 20 Because he "has seen the Father", Jesus Christ is the only one who knows him and can reveal him. 21 Part 1, Section 1, Chapter 3, Article 1, SubSection 3, Heading 6 162 Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. We can lose this priceless gift, as St. Paul indicated to St. Timothy: "Wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith." 44 To live, grow and persevere in the faith until the end we must nourish it with the word of God; we must beg the Lord to increase our faith; 45 it must be "working through charity," abounding in hope, and rooted in the faith of the Church. 46 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 3, Paragraph 1, SubSection 1 459 The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." 74 On the mountain of the Transfiguration, the Father commands: "Listen to him!" 75 Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: "Love one another as I have loved you." 76 This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example. 77 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 3, Paragraph 1, SubSection 4, Heading 1 474 By its union to the divine wisdom in the person of the Word incarnate, Christ enjoyed in his human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal. 108 What he admitted to not knowing in this area, he elsewhere declared himself not sent to reveal. 109 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 3, Paragraph 3, SubSection 3, Heading 6 552 Simon Peter holds the first place in the college of the Twelve; 283 Jesus entrusted a unique mission to him. Through a revelation from the Father, Peter had confessed: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Our Lord then declared to him: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." 284 Christ, the "living Stone", 285 thus assures his Church, built on Peter, of victory over the powers of death. Because of the faith he confessed Peter will remain the unshakeable rock of the Church. His mission will be to keep this faith from every lapse and to strengthen his brothers in it. 286 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 3, Paragraph 3, SubSection 3, Heading 8 557 "When the days drew near for him to be taken up Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem." 304 By this decision he indicated that he was going up to Jerusalem prepared to die there. Three times he had announced his Passion and Resurrection; now, heading toward Jerusalem, Jesus says: "It cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem." 305 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 5, Paragraph 2, SubSection 2 649 As for the Son, he effects his own Resurrection by virtue of his divine power. Jesus announces that the Son of man will have to suffer much, die, and then rise. 516 Elsewhere he affirms explicitly: "I lay down my life, that I may take it again. . . I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." 517 "We believe that Jesus died and rose again." 518 Part 2, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 5, SubSection 1, Heading 3 1504 Often Jesus asks the sick to believe. 108 He makes use of signs to heal: spittle and the laying on of hands, 109 mud and washing. 110 The sick try to touch him, "for power came forth from him and healed them all." 111 And so in the sacraments Christ continues to "touch" us in order to heal us. Part 4, Section 1, Chapter 1, Article 2, Heading 2 2610 Just as Jesus prays to the Father and gives thanks before receiving his gifts, so he teaches us filial boldness: "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will." 66 Such is the power of prayer and of faith that does not doubt: "all things are possible to him who believes." 67 Jesus is as saddened by the "lack of faith" of his own neighbors and the "little faith" of his own disciples 68 as he is struck with admiration at the great faith of the Roman centurion and the Canaanite woman. 69 Return